Jeffery Crandall
Jeff Crandall is a business, real estate, and estate planning attorney with nearly 30 years of experience in business, real estate, tax, estate planning, and elder law matters.
Jeff Crandall chose to become an attorney because he loves helping people solve problems, and when given the opportunity, he finds even greater satisfaction in helping avoid problems in the first place. He enjoys meeting people, making new friends, and developing long-term relationships with his clients and business associates. Jeff firmly believes that the greatest happiness in life comes from serving others. Jeff is a business and estate planning attorney with over 29 years of experience in business, tax, estate planning, elder law, and business succession planning. He is licensed in Idaho, Washington, and California, and has been practicing in the Coeur d’Alene, Idaho area for over 20 years.
Jeff has worked in a wide variety of law office environments, ranging from a large, 150-plus attorney firm in Southern California, to a solo practice in North Idaho, from a medium-sized, business and litigation firm to a small, boutique firm specializing in business and estate planning. He enjoys working in a small, specialized firm, where he has the freedom to focus his efforts entirely on the needs of his clients. He believes he has surrounded himself with like-minded, dedicated attorneys and staff, who work as a team to provide exceptional care for our clients.
As an entrepreneur and business owner himself, and as the former general counsel for a publicly-held, NASDAQ-traded company, he is familiar with the challenges facing today’s business owner, giving him a unique perspective and approach to the practice of law. He has also advised hundreds of clients on how to preserve and pass on the cherished legacies they have spent a lifetime creating.
Jeff is active in professional and community organizations, serving on numerous non-profit boards. Jeff, his wife, Julie, and their family are very active in their church, international humanitarian efforts, and local community activities, including community-based compassionate service projects, music, theater, and sports. Jeff enjoys accompanying his wife Julie, who is an RN, on medical missions to the remote regions of Guatemala and Honduras, helping out an eye surgical team with taking medical histories, eye exams, translating, running errands, and whatever else he can do t0 provide support to the medical professionals. These medical missions have turned into his favorite annual “vacation.” Jeff is also an active outdoor enthusiast who loves skiing, water sports, hunting, fishing, backpacking, golf, cycling, and swimming. Above all, he enjoys the time he can spend with his children, their spouses, and his grandchildren.
State Bar Admissions
Idaho, 1994
California, 1985
Washington, 2006
U.S. District Court, District of Idaho, 1994
Designation
Accredited Estate Planner® (AEP® Designee by the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils (NAEPC).
Education
University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, J.D., with distinction, 1985
Brigham Young University, B.S., 1981, Business Management (Finance), Minor,
Accounting and Economics
Bellevue High School, Bellevue, Washington, 1975
Honors, Activities, and Awards
Honors: Traynor Honor Society, Dean’s List
Activities: Pacific Law Journal, Board of Editors, Articles Editor, Comment Staff,
Legislative Review Staff, Legal Writing Instructor
Awards: AmJur Award, Antitrust (1984), Pro Bono Publico Service Commendation,
2007 and 2008, Washington State Bar Association
Published Works
Extending Admiralty Jurisdiction Over Non-Maritime Property, 15 Pac.L.J.
(1984)
Professional Associations and Memberships
Idaho State Bar
Washington State Bar Association
California State Bar
Kootenai County Bar Association
National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA)
Coeur d’Alene Estate Planning Council
Civic Involvement and Service
Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce
Hayden Area Chamber of Commerce
Boy Scouts of America
Idaho Drug Free Youth (Past President)
Coeur d’Alene Summer Theater (Past President)
Elder Help
Ryan Crandall
Ryan Crandall is an attorney and estate planner with a passion for helping individuals and families prepare for the future. Ryan believes that one of the primary roles of a lawyer is to be an educator and counselor. He works hard to discover his clients’ goals and to explain, in easy-to-understand terms, the legal strategies that can be used to achieve those goals.
Ryan is a proud native of North Idaho. An accomplished musician, Ryan attended Brigham Young University on a scholarship for jazz bass. After serving a two-year mission to Lithuania, he met his future wife, Jennifer, and received a Bachelor of Arts in Music. Ryan began practicing law in 2011 after graduating from the University Of Idaho College Of Law. At law school, Ryan was a member of the Idaho Law Review during which time he served as Associate Editor and then Managing Editor. Ryan also spent two years as a teaching assistant helping new law students hone their legal research and writing skills.
In his free time, Ryan enjoys composing music and plays numerous instruments including cello, piano, guitar, and bass. He is an avid outdoor enthusiast and enjoys skiing, soccer, wakeboarding, backpacking, rock climbing, and kayaking. Ryan takes pride in giving back to the community and is actively involved in the Boy Scouts of America and other church and youth groups. Most of all, Ryan loves spending time with his family and is the proud father of four wonderful children.
Practice Areas:
Estate Planning, Business, Guardianship, Probate, Real Estate
Admissions & Memberships
Idaho State Bar Association
United States District Court, District of Idaho
Washington State Bar Association
Kootenai County Bar Association
Wealth Counsel
Education
Brigham Young University, B.A., 2008;
University of Idaho College of Law, J.D., 2011.
Awards and Honors
Managing Editor, Idaho Law Review, 2010-2011
Dean’s List, University of Idaho College of Law, 2009-2011
Associate Editor, Idaho Law Review, 2009-2010
Top Paper Award: Intellectual Property
Clyn D. Barrus scholarship for bass, Brigham Young University
Other Languages
Lithuanian
Cole Johnson
Cole Johnson is an estate planning attorney who focuses on the needs of individuals and families to help plan and prepare for their future. Cole strives to make the client process easy to understand and navigate, to effectively protect and plan for one’s future.
Cole prides himself on being a native of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He attended primary school locally and graduated from Lake City High School and North Idaho College in 2015. Cole completed his Bachelor of Arts degree in International Business at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. During his time at Westminster, he served on a public service trip to Colombia helping the citizens to restore and connect forgotten communities and towns.
While attending Gonzaga University School of Law, Cole participated in multiple outreach programs and pro bono services. He worked for the Juvenile Records Sealing Project and the Lincoln Law Project Clinics within Gonzaga University School of Law. He also spent a year at the Kootenai County Public Defender’s Office.
In his free time, Cole enjoys being active outdoors, practicing his soccer skills, skiing, wakeboarding, and hiking. Cole is also a soccer referee for club, high school, and the NCAA. Cole enjoys spending time with his family, either out on the town or spending a quiet day at home.
Admissions & Memberships
Idaho State Bar Association
United States District Court, District of Idaho
United States Bankruptcy Court, District of Idaho
Kootenai County Bar Association
Wealth Counsel
Education
Gonzaga University School of Law, J.D., 2021
Westminster College, B.A., International Business, 2017
North Idaho College, A.A., 2015
Lake City High School, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, 2015
Awards and Honors
Certificate in Civil and Human Rights, Gonzaga University School of Law, 2021
Pro Bono Distinction, Gonzaga University School of Law, 2021
Civic Involvement and Service
District 1 Commissioner, Idaho Youth Soccer Association
Judicial and Ethics Committee, Idaho Youth Soccer Association
North Idaho Soccer Referee Association (Past Vice-President)
Juvenile Records Sealing Project, Spokane, Washington
James West
James West is the founder and principal of J. West Law Firm and an Of Counsel attorney with Crandall Law Group.
He has a passion to practice “law that matters” and enjoys solving puzzles, making estate planning a perfect fit. James has been practicing law since 2002. Back then, James drafted his first will for a widowed neighbor, and began his love affair with law that lends a hand. Licensed in Idaho, Texas, and Oklahoma, James has assisted families planning for their future with estates ranging in size from a seedling, to tens of millions of dollars. James is particularly keen on creativity, and he utilizes his broad experience near daily to protect what his clients have earned against loss to medical emergencies, creditors, divorces, death, taxation, government recoupment, and more.
Honesty is James’ favorite character trait. Whether with his wife of nearly twenty four years, his teenage children, or his clients, James believes honesty is the cornerstone of all good relationships. “I don’t know,” is James favorite answer to hear because, he says, it is most often truthful.
For James, each day starts with two possibilities, law or fishing; on his best days, he does both. James finds little else settles his mind more quickly than a tight line. Born in the Pacific Northwest, educated and married in the South, and having lived in two countries and six different states, James’ favorite place in the world is shoving off any dock for some time on the water.
While he takes his work seriously, James doesn’t take himself that way. James enjoys the wit of others, and doesn’t mind a prank or two. James takes his obligation to serve his community seriously. As a former member of Oklahoma Legal Aid, James believes in providing his services to those in need whenever possible. Idaho’s professional rules dictate that a lawyer must never reject for any consideration personal to himself, the cause of the defenseless or the oppressed. James believes that serving the needs of those who might otherwise be unable to afford his services, is a vital piece of the structure that girds a community, and thereby a country.